Kylie Vonnahme is a model at Elite Model NYC who has managed to accomplish a lot at only 19 years old. At 16, a recruiter from Ford Modeling spotted her at a Taylor Swift concert and only a few weeks later she was signed on. Three years later, she has moved to New York to start college at Pace University and has continued to advance in her modeling career…
Career profile: Kylie Vonnahme
Who do you model for now and how do you like it?
Right now my agency is Elite Models. So, I just recently signed with them four months ago cause I was with another agency prior and so far it’s amazing! Absolutely amazing. They are so hands on and they’re really what I look for in an agency and I’m very happy with where I’m at right now with them.
Obviously your family has been very supportive. Have they always been that way?
My family actually has always been very supportive and I’m really thankful for their support, I definitely couldn’t have done it without them. They let me move to New York at 17 years old all by myself and I know if they weren’t on board for modeling, and for me pursing this career, I definitely wouldn’t have had that opportunity to move that early in life.
Aside from balancing school and modeling, do you have time to date or hang out with friends?
This one is actually really tough. I don’t have as much time anymore with my friends. It’s so busy and really crazy because not only do I have a busy schedule but they’re also full-time students so their schedules are busy as well and they have their own jobs and on top of it my job is just very crazy and very time-consuming. I have to balance the little bit of free-time I have between my boyfriend and friends and it’s really tough to balance all four of those all at one time.
What is it like balancing modeling and school?
It’s really tough to balance both school and modeling. So, I graduated high school early so I am a little ahead in college. I’m actually starting my junior year and I should just be starting my sophomore. I finally just got busy enough this last semester to where I couldn’t balance it anymore and it became too tough. I’m a stickler about my grades, my dad will not let my grades drop either, so I’m trying online classes next semester for the first time because I was not able to make class every day without missing castings or shoots and it really became tough so I’m gonna try something new and try online classes and see how that goes.
Who has been your favorite client to work for so far?
So my favorite client was definitely "Vogue" magazine. I worked at the Met Gala and was one of the models. There were 18 of us and it was the most amazing experience ever. We were up close and personal with the whole "Vogue" staff, Anna Wintour was there. It was just an experience I’ll never forget and from working with Vogue I’ll know in the future, when I’m done modeling, I would love to work with Vogue as possibly working with them on more business terms and being involved in the company when modeling is done with.
Where has modeling led you so far and where do you hope it will eventually take you?
So far modeling has led me to a life of travel, a life of fitness, a very busy lifestyle and I only hope all three of these continue. It really takes your life and makes it crazy, right from the beginning. Right when I started working up here I no longer had downtime. I don’t have too much free time anymore but it’s amazing. I get to experience all these great things in life and it’s something that without modeling I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to explore so it’s really great and I only hope that going forward it only gets busier.
I saw that you had an interview with "Cosmopolitan." What was that like and did it turn into anything?
"Cosmopolitan" and "Seventeen Magazine" work together and I was going there for a casting with "Seventeen Magazine" and "Seventeen Magazine" is doing a back-to-school special in one of their upcoming magazines and I am lucky enough that I am going to be considered for that job. We are still working on it, it’s totally a work in progress, but it’s something that could turn into something really exciting. I’m very excited about that.
Out of everything in New York, what has been your favorite thing?
The food in New York is something I will never ever take for granted. It’s unreal here, you have any type of food and anything you want, any type of restaurant you want, we have it here. Every single time you try a new food here it’s like a whole new experience and it’s really a social thing in New York. Everybody loves to go out to dinner and everybody loves to venture out to Brooklyn to try a bagel. Like, let’s just say there’s so many amazing food spots all around the city and it’s something that I really appreciate.
How often do you get to travel for work?
I’m also signed with Elite Miami and they have given me a lot of opportunities so far so I’m traveling to Miami probably three times a month. So that’s pretty often but I’ve also gotten to travel to some other amazing places. Travel is like one of the best parts of modeling and as great as it is it’s also very stressful. But I travel pretty often and I would say at least three times a month because I’m going to Miami and then often, other times I get to travel to other places as well.
What would you say your style is and how has that changed as your career has progressed?
So when I first moved to New York my style was whack! It was very crazy; I was very over the top with everything I wore. I was really doing the most a lot of times and since I have moved her to New York and started working a lot, I would say my style has become very simplistic. I keep it simple and I’m always wearing darker colors, skinny jeans, just basics. Everything is pretty solid; I always have my boots on but for the most part my style’s pretty simple but chic. I like to keep everything clean and look cool but I don’t like to do too much like I used to do.
There are a lot of misconceptions about modeling and how the models maintain their health. Would you say that those ideas are misconstrued or that they’re on the right track?
Of course when it comes to body type in the modeling industry there’s lots of misconceptions. You know, you can look at it like this: you’re never going to please everybody. People who aren’t in the industry look at us as we’re too skinny. People who are in the industry sometimes look at us as we’re not skinny enough. There’s really no way to please everybody so what you have to do is you have to find what is best for your body. I’m finally at a place in life where I have worked so hard at eating healthy and including fitness in my everyday life and finally my body is where I want it to be. As much as people will critique, I don’t let myself get upset about it because I’m very happy with where my body is at. It’s something you just have to learn to have hard skin about because you’re really never going to be able to please everybody.
What advice would you give to girls just starting out in the modeling industry?
You should never have to pay your agency anything and it’s absolutely a scam if that’s happening. Sometimes if you’re staying in the modeling apartment, you pay for that. Sometimes when you have to improve your book you’ll pay for that but they advance the charges for you. So when you pay for your book they’ll pay for it for you and then as you make money they’ll slowly but surely take a little bit of money out of your paychecks to pay it off for you. But other than that there’s no initial fee and if someone’s trying to charge you for their services then it’s absolutely a scam. My advice for new girls is just stay positive and be ready for a lot of waiting because when I first started it was a lot of waiting. There’s so many models trying to make it that you really have to wait for your time, you have to be patient. If you’re not booking jobs right away then you have to just take it as it is and shake it off because at some point, when your waiting game’s finally over, you will start booking jobs and from there it just gets busier and busier.
What are your goals for yourself and your career?
In five years I would 100 percent love to still be modeling. I’m only 19 years old so in five years I would be 24 and if you take care of yourself, you can absolutely still be modeling at 24 years old. At that point I’d like to be living a life of travel based on work. I would love to just be traveling the world at 24 years old and working in different countries and expanding my horizons to get more work experience.
